STEPHENVILLE, Texas—Ten Tarleton faculty members were named recipients of the Student Recognition Award for Teaching Excellence for spring 2011. Each winner received a check for $2,500, and is among 307 faculty receiving awards totaling $767,500 from across The Texas A&M University System.

The awards are based on student-administered evaluations that rank faculty according to a uniform set of criteria, with weighting for factors such as class size. The Texas A&M University System’s new voluntary, student-selected Teaching Excellence Award Program was created to recognize excellence in classroom teaching.

Individuals of all teaching levels are eligible for awards based on students’ responses from the faculty evaluation form in eligible courses. The form consists of 16 questions with input from the presidents and provosts of system institutions, faculty senates of system institutions, the Chancellor's Student Advisory Board, and the Chancellor’s office.

The Tarleton faculty recipients, many of whom received their checks in person in their offices from President Dr. F. Dominic Dottavio, and were later honored at a reception, are:

College of Agricultural and Environmental ScienceDr. Sandra Graham, professor of agricultural and consumer science

College of Science and TechnologyDr. Elisabeth Riggs, associate professor of mathematics

The awards, previously known as the Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Awards, began as a pilot program at Texas A&M University, Prairie View A&M University and Texas A&M University-Kingsville in fall 2008. In the spring 2009 semester, the program expanded to all A&M System campuses.